Green Day - ¡Tré! (19/02/2013)
Upon hearing about Green Day's plan to release three studio albums over a 3 or so month period, to say I was excited would have been an understatement. In fact my views on Green Day is similar to that of good coffee and high-speed internet access, namely, you can never have too much of it. Unfortunately, the trio albums have been too overplayed and have not really lived up to their hype, leaving me (as much as I never thought I would say this) happy to see the end of them.
Despite the anticipation and hype around the albums having considerably dissipated, ¡Tre! is the better of the three. It’s eclectic mix of high-energy punk-rock anthems and disenchanted ballads have been well planned and balanced to create a polished and fitting end to their trilogy.
The album opens and closes with two heartbroken and bittersweet ballads, Brutal Love and The Forgotten. Brutal Love opens the album off on a slow and soulful tone with Billy Joe Armstrong's crooning vocals hitting every emotionally distraught note and matching the swelling strings and country-twinged tenor of the song. The Forgotten finishes off both the album and the trilogy with a sweet but ultimately forgettable piano ballad. While Armstrong's vocals and the quiet tone of the track fit with the emotions of the lyrics, overall it just falls short of what I except from the final moments of the album.
X-Kid is an essential track of the album, with lyrics full of want for the old glory days and a solid rock anthem base. The song features an intense sense of urgency reminiscent of Green Day's earlier album, with a punchy guitar track and a driving drum line. Following on, Sex, Drugs, & Violence continues the high-energy feeling as well as the strong rhythm backing to the song. The song opens on a high note and builds over its three and a half minute length into a track that would be perfectly fitted on American Idiot (2004).
Dirty Rotten Bastard is a definite highlight of the album, with the track playing as several songs blended together into one well-planned and incredibly memorable song. It starts off as a distorted rock anthem with heavy, military-esque beats and explosive guitar shredding, before shifting into a mid-tempo but still high-energy melodic ending.
With a consensus of mixed reviews for ¡Uno! and ¡Dos!, we waited with baited breath for the release of ¡Tre!, hoping for the best but preparing for another album of erratically mixed fast and loud punk songs and sappy, but emotionally weak, ballads. However, despite not being their best album, ¡Tre! finishes off this trilogy with a well-planned and solid punch.
Bethany Williams
Despite the anticipation and hype around the albums having considerably dissipated, ¡Tre! is the better of the three. It’s eclectic mix of high-energy punk-rock anthems and disenchanted ballads have been well planned and balanced to create a polished and fitting end to their trilogy.
The album opens and closes with two heartbroken and bittersweet ballads, Brutal Love and The Forgotten. Brutal Love opens the album off on a slow and soulful tone with Billy Joe Armstrong's crooning vocals hitting every emotionally distraught note and matching the swelling strings and country-twinged tenor of the song. The Forgotten finishes off both the album and the trilogy with a sweet but ultimately forgettable piano ballad. While Armstrong's vocals and the quiet tone of the track fit with the emotions of the lyrics, overall it just falls short of what I except from the final moments of the album.
X-Kid is an essential track of the album, with lyrics full of want for the old glory days and a solid rock anthem base. The song features an intense sense of urgency reminiscent of Green Day's earlier album, with a punchy guitar track and a driving drum line. Following on, Sex, Drugs, & Violence continues the high-energy feeling as well as the strong rhythm backing to the song. The song opens on a high note and builds over its three and a half minute length into a track that would be perfectly fitted on American Idiot (2004).
Dirty Rotten Bastard is a definite highlight of the album, with the track playing as several songs blended together into one well-planned and incredibly memorable song. It starts off as a distorted rock anthem with heavy, military-esque beats and explosive guitar shredding, before shifting into a mid-tempo but still high-energy melodic ending.
With a consensus of mixed reviews for ¡Uno! and ¡Dos!, we waited with baited breath for the release of ¡Tre!, hoping for the best but preparing for another album of erratically mixed fast and loud punk songs and sappy, but emotionally weak, ballads. However, despite not being their best album, ¡Tre! finishes off this trilogy with a well-planned and solid punch.
Bethany Williams